Wednesday could see the announcement of a plan to prevent people from shoplifting. The government would like to make a new law to punish those who steal things costing less than £200.

In 2014, the law was changed so that stealing things worth under £200 wasn’t punished as seriously. Now, the government wants to reverse that change.

The government might also make a new law to punish anyone who hurts a shop worker. We won’t know how bad the punishments are until those new laws pass through Parliament.

The number of shoplifting incidents in England and Wales reached the highest figures last year. More than 430,000 cases were recorded by the police, but many more thefts might have occurred that did not get reported.

Wolverhampton-based Michelle Whitehead runs a shop. According to her, every day there has to be a robbery in her shop. Thieves will take every possible item, from tins of food to fresh meats. This, she knows, is done not only by people struggling financially, but by organized gangs.

She feels that imposing stricter laws that would take stern action against shoplifters will really help small shops like hers go along.

Others are delighted with the new plans—a cheering shopkeepers and their employees. However, some, like a people’s rights group, feel that these new laws could punish the poor, and our jails are already overcrowded.

The King’s Speech is the major event in Parliament, when the government sets out its plans to all for the forthcoming months.

Before the last election Labour promised to scrap the new law. They claimed that the old law was a “shoplifter’s charter”.

Tom Holder from a group representing shops says that, since the law changed in 2014 the police have not concentrated as much on minor thefts. He believes that the police might be more serious about such thefts if the law changes again.

Shoplifting costs shops a lot of money — about £1.8 billion last year. This might make prices in shops go up to make up for the losses.

Paul Gerrard from a big supermarket chain said, “Thefts and attacks on shop workers are rising.” He does not believe that the rise is due simply because people need things. Stealing, in some cases, is done to sell those things in other places illegally.

However, Jodie Beck from a group fighting for rights said the new laws may be a bad idea. She thinks the police have already got enough powers to tackle shop thefts and bad behaviour.

She said the new laws could make our courts even busier and our jails even more crowded. Last week, the Justice Secretary said they’d let thousands of prisoners go early to make room in jails.

A spokesperson from the Prime Minister’s office didn’t want to say anything about the King’s Speech until after it happens.

The police are liaising with the government in implementing a strategy to eradicate shoplifting. They want to handle shoplifting as detailing organized crime gangs. They said their strategy was bearing some fruit.